


The Rain Song

by AlphaShae, shaetil (AlphaShae)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Comfort, Complete, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 18:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaShae/pseuds/AlphaShae, https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaShae/pseuds/shaetil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanji is scared of thunder and Zeff tries to comfort the little eggplant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rain Song

There was another sharp crack of thunder as lightning flashed a blinding white outside the curtains of his small window. The fading rumble of the thunder winding down almost drowned it out, but straining his ears, he managed to catch the sound of sobs over the storm outside. He had to go. He couldn't sit there knowing the little eggplant was crying alone in the dark. 

Zeff reached for his crutch and eased himself out of bed with a groan. The stump left below the knee where he'd lost his leg had mostly healed, but it was still painful to walk on his new peg leg after he'd already been on it all day. Leaning heavily on his crutch, Zeff limped out into the hall. The ship tilting made him briefly lean against the wall for support, but honestly this was only a small storm and the waves weren't that big. A fine new boat like the Baratie would have no trouble with a little wind water being tossed around and he wasn't concerned about the ship in the slightest.

This was nothing compared to the monstrous storms that sprung out of nowhere on the Grand Line...

Zeff reached Sanji's room, just a few doors down from his, and he was able to distinctly hear the small boy crying. It made his stomach twist to hear it. Sanji was a tough little brat, and he'd survived so much even at his young age. Zeff felt a certain amount of respect for the strength of his will and boundless courage. So to hear him cry in fear... 

He could only imagine this storm was bringing back memories of another storm on that dark night when they had met.

He had lost his crew, his ship, his leg... But Sanji had lost all that and his precious childhood. Almost drowning and then nearly starving to death on a rock in the middle of the open sea had aged the boy's soul. Zeff was sad to see it, but it had become a part of what made Sanji strong. They had both healed, however it seemed that just like his swollen stump of a leg, both of them needed time to build up some callouses.

Zeff opened the door to the eggplant's room and limped inside. Sanji wasn't on the bed. Zeff squinted in the darkness until a flash of lightning revealed the little boy squeezed into the gap between the trunk at the end of his bed and the interior wall - cowering with his arms shielding his face and head. Poor little cuss. 

Silently, Zeff made his painful way to the end of Sanji's bed and sat down on it as close to the eggplant as he could manage. The boy knew he was there, and he'd even started to uncurl his small body, but another crash of thunder had him tucked back into a shivering ball. Zeff simply sat there for a little while wondering how to fix this. 

The only thing he could think of was terribly embarrassing.

After some anxious mustache twitching, Zeff finally gave in and addressed the poor kid, "It's not bad to be afraid of storms. Especially at sea."

Sanji was watching him. The brat had probably expected him to poke fun at his fear. Well maybe he'd laugh at the little shit squealing and fleeing from a shitty spider, but storms were dangerous. Also he played a part in how horrible that night had been... He cleared his throat and continued, "There's a... song that I was taught when I was your age. It made me feel better about storms until I learned how to handle them."

He shifted uncomfortably as the Baratie bucked in the throes of another wave, "Would you like to learn it...?"

Sanji flinched at more thunder and nodded tearfully, "Yeah..."

Zeff took a deep breath and began to sing; sweet and low just like it had been sung to him many years ago, "Rain falls... Soft rain, on my window...!"

Sanji crept out of his corner and sat at his feet, clutching the leg of Zeff's pajamas as he rested his little blonde head on the old ex-pirate chef's knee. Zeff reached down and stroked the soft, blonde hair as he continued to sing, "While the rain is falling there's a quietness about the world... When the thunder's calling there's a quiet hush about the world..."

Sanji sniffled and shivered at the sound of more thunder, but he had stopped crying and he was now comfortably hugging Zeff's leg instead of clutching at it like a lifeline. "A time to remember the beautiful things, to look for tomorrow and your fondest dreams...! Rain falls... Soft rain, at my window...!"

After Zeff drew out the last note he looked down to see Sanji fast asleep, slumped against his leg. Leaning over, Zeff gripped him under the armpits and pulled him onto the bed, "Just like a bag of turnips..." He snorted as he gently rubbed away a few tear tracks from Sanji's pale face with his thumb. In the morning when the storm had passed he would teach the brat how to properly chop vegetables. The baby eggplant needed more nutrients in his diet.

After pulling the covers over Sanji's small body, Zeff limped heavily toward the door. Sanji's soft words made him pause on his way out, "Thank you, old man..."

Zeff's mustache twitched and he hid his pleased expression by continuing out into the hall. He couldn't have the brat thinking he was soft now... By the time he reached his own bed he could hear Sanji singing down the hall, "Rain falls... Softly, on my window..."

\---------

Chopper's ears fluttered sleepily as he nodded off in his hammock. Zoro was already snoring, and Luffy was yawning widely in-between munching on his midnight snack. Outside the Merry, the storm tossed the ship fitfully, but Nami had been sure that it wouldn't become a real threat so the crew had simply tied the sails and gone to bed early.

Usopp rested his arms on the edge of his hammock and blinked sleepily as he asked Sanji about the song he was humming, "I've heard you sing that before. Where did you learn that song? It's really pretty."

Sanji lit up a new cigarette and shrugged, "It was a long time ago. I used to hate storms, but it made me feel better..."

Usopp scrunched his forehead thoughtfully, "That chef... Back at your restaurant, did that old man, Zeff sing that to you?!"

Sanji remembered many storms after that first one on the Baratie with Zeff sitting on his bed, petting his hair as he sang. He never told the old geezer about how the sound of those storms used to trigger flashbacks of the storm that had sunk their ships, but he suspected that Zeff knew. Now, Zeff's deep baritone voice, singing those gentle lyrics was one of his fondest memories of the man. He was the closest thing Sanji had to a father growing up, and that song was start of their bond becoming more than just a debt owed... 

"Yeah. He taught it to me." Sanji blew a smoke ring and watched it float away with a smile, "It's my favorite song."

**Author's Note:**

> The song is "Soft Rain" by Janet and Douglas Cox.


End file.
